What's So Amazing About Grace?

This book has become one of the standard texts for the Christian believer to understand what God's grace is and it's importance in our lives. The author writes from his own experience of God's grace in his life and a biblical perspective. He illustrates the points well with examples from films, novels and true-life incidents. Excellent read. Add to your reading list

I've just finished reading Philip Yancey's book "What's So Amazing About Grace" and I was blown away by it. It was recommended to me by a friend on The Christian Book Club on Facebook. and it didn't disappoint! Grace is a word that we Christians throw around, but never really take time to examine, unpack, and explore. That's a shame though. As Philip Yancey says, "Grace changes everything..." and indeed he's right. EVERYTHING is not only changed by grace, but transformed in a complete 180 degree trun around! Grace is perhaps THE most powerful force in the world today. It has the power to not only change us but to change the course of world history as it did with Christ, and has done many times down through the ages. Grace short-circuits the cancer of hate, it frees us from the slavery of resentment, it cuts us loose from the violent cycle of revenge, and it opens the door to God himself. What other attitude in action delivers so much? Yancey is in my opinion one of the top 5 Christian authors around right now. His honesty is as powerful as it is refreshing. I love his personal and easy-to-read style. He is always firmly Bible focused but still grounded in "real life". If you've never read anything by him I recommend this as a starter. I will be visiting this book again and again to mine it's rich seems of truth.

Amazing book . Very insightful . Beautifully written and engaging from page one .

Great book a lot to take in but a detailed look at Grace. It really deepens your walk in grace

Good book good condition and a good price

Looking forward to reading it again. Loaned my copy years ago but it was never returned. I rely on the grace of God to keep me

Thank you for a really excellent book.

A great read for anyone who may or may not believe in God. This book hits the heart of religion with all its flaws and leaves the reader - believing!

Arrived on time and the quality was just as described from the second-hand seller. Is a book hard to put down and so well written that it feels effortless... like watching a good story :) It speaks about the word "Grace", it's usages in history, law, in the communities around the world and in religion. It goes on to explain how we keep pushing the "Doctrine of Purity," which is what Jesus came to destroy and replace with the "Doctrine of Compassion." The doctrine of purity is what the Pharisees did and is something that many fanatical Christians still like doing and want to keep perpetrating, instead of ACTUALLY mimicking what Jesus taught: Don't judge, just love and this love and compassion will attract and change people's hearts. A WAKE UP CALL TO ALL...

This is a very amazing book about Amazing Grace! Somehow despite all the knowledge we have, we still underestimate the grace of God. Yancey is a gifted writer and Praise God that Yancey's gifts are benefiting so many all over the world. Fell in love with his writing when I read - The Jesus I never Knew.

This book came highly recommended by my wife and from a member of Peace Church. Yancey says that he would rather convey grace than explain it, which is why he writes with stories rather than syllogisms (Yancey 1997, 16). There are certainly a lot of stories in this book. Part one is about the sweetness of grace. Yancey tells the story of Babette, a woman who served as a housekeeper for twelve years for two sisters, Martina and Philippa. The sisters had lived difficult, graceless lives. Babette wins the lottery, and the sisters fear she will leave. But Babette spends all the money on a lavish French feast for Philippa and Martina and their guests in honor of the anniversary of their father's birth. Grace came to them in the form of a feast and in the form of a loyal friend (Yancey 1997, 19-26). Yancey tells the story of Peter Greaves, who was angry at God and life because he contracted leprosy while stationed in India. But he testifies that he experienced grace through music while at Bible college. He played piano for hours on end. He also experienced grace through the beauty of nature, as he walked through pine forests, watching dragonflies and flocks of birds. He then experienced grace by falling in love and these experiences gradually led him back to his childhood faith in Christ (Yancey 1997, 40-42). Yancey also tells a modern day version of the prodigal son story, where a teenage girl runs away from her home in Traverse City, Michigan. She heads down to Detroit, gets into drugs and prostitution to make ends meet. But she misses her family. One day, she writes her parents and tells them that she will be taking the bus home. She arrives at the Traverse City bus station at midnight. She is shocked to discover her family and about forty other relatives waiting for her, wearing party hats and saying "Welcome home!" She hugs her dad and tries to apologize, but he says "There's no time for apologies. We need to get home and celebrate. There's a big banquet waiting for you" (Yancey 1997, 49-51). That's grace. Part two deals with breaking the cycle of "ungrace." Yancey tells stories of people who lived bitter, miserable lives because they harbored anger and could not forgive (Yancey 1997, 75-81). Yancey says that we should forgive because forgiveness offers a way for us to start broken relationships over and to heal the hurts of the past (Yancey 1997, '98-99). He tells the story of Jean Valjean, the French prisoner from Les Miserables, whose life was transformed by grace (Yancey 1997, 101-2). There is also the story of Rebecca, whose clergy husband cheated on him with a woman named Julianne. She was bitter, but she phoned them one day and "I choose to forgive you." Years later, Julianne phoned Rebecca to say that the man had been doing the same thing to her and she needed someone to tell. The women got together, and Rebecca led Julianne to Christ, and they became friends (Yancey 1997, 104-6). That is grace. The rest of the book is in the same vein, pictures of grace, mixed with the occasional picture of ungrace. The researcher has already used the Les Miserables story in a recent sermon, but this book is a veritable treasure trove of grace stories that can be mined for future sermons. But taken as a whole, What's So Amazing About Grace? was one of the most enjoyable and heartwarming books on the reading plan.

One of the first books I read on my faith journey. It was a very easy read but transformative. Grace is a word that is said so lightly sometimes without the depth of what it means for our life and the way we go through it. Definitely recommend this one!

Excellent